Park Jeong-min (; born March 24, 1987) is a South Korean actor, writer, and book publisher. Known as a prolific Chungmu-ro actor, he has starred in films such as Bleak Night (2011), Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet (2016), Keys to the Heart (2018), Deliver Us from Evil (2020), Smugglers (2023), Uprising (2024), Harbin (2024) and The Ugly (2025). He is also the author of the best-selling book A Useful Person.
Early life and education In 2005, Park enrolled in Liberal Arts at the prestigious Korea University and subsequently dropped out with the intention to become a filmmaker. He then majored in film making at Korea National University of Arts, but later switched his major to acting after his military discharge.
Career 2011–2016: Early work and breakthrough In 2011, Park made his screen debut with the critically acclaimed independent film Bleak Night, for which he was nominated for Best New Actor at the 20th Buil Film Awards.
He started appearing in mainstream films when he scored minor roles in romantic comedy film Dancing Queen (2012), action drama film Fists of Legend (2013) and disaster film The Flu (2013). In 2014, he starred in another Korean Academy of Film Arts graduation project and independent film Tinker Ticker which premiered at the 26th Tokyo International Film Festival.
Park made his breakthrough and rose to prominence in 2016 with his performance in Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet as Song Mong-gyu, a cousin of the poet Yun Dong-ju who was known for his resistance writings during the Japanese occupation of Korea. His portrayal garnered him Best New Actor awards at the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards, 37th Blue Dragon Film Awards, 36th Golden Cinema Festival, the Korea Film Actors Association Awards, 16th Director's Cut Awards, and a Best Supporting Actor award at the 22nd Chunsa Film Art Awards.
2017–present: Rising popularity and critical acclaim In 2017, Park returned to theater as Romeo in the Korean adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet with Moon Geun-young playing Juliet.
In 2018, he starred in the comedy-drama film Keys to the Heart as a gifted pianist with autism and savant syndrome. For this role, Park practiced playing the piano for 6 hours a day for 6 months and executed all the piano playing scenes in the film without a substitute. The same year, Park appeared in the superhero film Psychokinesis and headlined Lee Joon-ik's drama film Sunset in My Hometown in which he plays a rapper. With the help of professional rappers, Park practiced rapping for a year, and wrote lyrics for the songs that appeared in the film.
In 2019, Park starred in occult horror film Svaha: The Sixth Finger and took on lead roles in the crime drama film Tazza: One Eyed Jack as well as the webtoon-based comedy film Start-Up.
In 2020, Park was cast in Netflix original film Time to Hunt which premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival. Later that year, he starred in the action film Deliver Us from Evil where he received widespread critical acclaim for his performance as Yui, a transgender woman who wishes to undergo sex reassignment surgery but cannot afford to do so. The film became the second highest-grossing South Korean film of 2020. For his portrayal, Park received numerous accolades including Best Supporting Actor awards at the 41st Blue Dragon Film Awards, 57th Baeksang Arts Awards, 40th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards, and 26th Chunsa Film Art Awards. He also wrote and directed a music video for "Reconnect" as part of a special project in celebration of Elle Koreas 28th anniversary.
In 2021, Park starred in drama film Miracle: Letters to the President and made his directorial debut with short film Unframed – Class Representative Election which premiered at the 26th Busan International Film Festival alongside Netflix original series Hellbound in which Park made his small screen comeback.
In 2023, he starred in action crime film Smugglers for which he was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards, 44th Blue Dragon Film Awards, 59th Grand Bell Awards, and 32nd Buil Film Awards.
In 2024, Park was cast in another Netflix original series The 8 Show based on the Naver webtoons Money Game and Pie Game by Bae Jin-soo. Later that year, he starred in Netflix original film Uprising which landed him a win and a nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the 34th Buil Film Awards and 61st Baeksang Arts Awards respectively. He then appeared in sports drama film One Win and biographical period film Harbin where he portrayed South Korean independence activist Woo Deok-sun. Harbin topped the South Korean box office for four weeks following its release and garnered Park a Best Supporting Actor nomination at the 46th Blue Dragon Film Awards.
In 2025, he starred in the zombie comedy series Newtopia, marking his third project with director Yoon Sung-hyun. Following the filming of action spy film Humint where he plays the role of a North Korean agent, Park effectively took a hiatus from all acting activities to focus on his book publishing career.
Later that year, Park's first dual role film The Ugly made its premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival. Due to the film's low-budget nature, it had a three week filming period with 20 crew members and he appeared in the film without receiving an appearance fee. Nevertheless, the film achieved huge commercial success and became the eleventh South Korean film of the year to surpass 1 million admissions. For his leading role in the film, Park received the 62nd Baeksang Arts Award for Best Actor – Film and became the first person in Baeksang Arts Awards history to win every film acting category. He also won Best Actor at the 45th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards and received nominations in the same category at the 46th Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 24th Director's Cut Awards.
Park made his return to theater after eight years in the stage adaptation of Yann Martel's Life of Pi which premiered on December 2, 2025 in Seoul and ended on March 15, 2026 in Busan.
Other activities Writing In 2014, Park became a writer of a monthly column for magazine Topclass and established a following of devoted readers. His column is called "Eonhee", which means "to make others happy through words".
Known for his humorous and self-deprecating writing style, Park published his own book of essays in 2016, titled A Useful Person. The book became a best-seller and had its 12th round of printing as of 2019.
Park also owned a bookstore called Book, Night, Day in Hapjeong-dong, Seoul which opened in 2019.
In 2022, he joined Baedal Minjok's newsletter The Taste of Living These Days as a columnist. In 2024, he was recruited as a contributor to the We Love Poetry newsletter where his self-written poems were published.
Book publishing At the end of 2020, Park established Muze, his own book publishing company. He became the editor of the first book published by the company titled Saving Work by journalist Kim So-young, a book which discusses animal rights. Park states that he aims to publish books about the marginalized as well as matters which are disregarded by the society.
In 2025, Park launched the Listening Novel Project with the release of writer Kim Keum-hee's new full-length novel First Summer, Wanju as an audiobook to make literature more accessible to readers with visual impairments. His motivation behind the project arose after his father had lost his eyesight and was unable to enjoy the books published by him.
Park became the executive producer of the audiobook which stars Go Min-si, Yum Jung-ah, Kim Do-hoon, Choi Yang-rak, Kim Eui-sung and many others. Departing from the conventional practice of releasing print editions first, the audiobook version was completed and distributed ahead of the print release. Copies of the audiobook were donated to the National Library for the Disabled and other institutions serving visually impaired communities.
Filmography
Film Year Title Role Notes 2011 Bleak Night Baek Hee-joon Short! Short! Short! 2010: Fantastic Theater I-mae Segment: "The Famished" 2012 Dancing Queen Ramyun in package 2013 Fists of Legend young Im Deok-kyu The Flu Chul-gyo 2014 Hot Young Bloods Hwang-kyu Tinker Ticker Lee Hyo-min Mad Sad Bad Bizen/Bo-hyun Segment: "Ghost" Momo Salon Chang-gyun 2015 Heartbreak Hotel Chen Office Lee Won-suk 2016 Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet Song Mong-gyu Pure Love Yong-soo Horror Stories 3 Dong-geun Segment: "Road Rage" 2017 The King Heo Ki-hoon The Artist: Reborn Jae-bum The King's Case Note Crown Prince Uikyung Cameo 2018 Keys to the Heart Jin-tae Psychokinesis Kim Jung-hyun Sunset in My Hometown Hak-soo 2019 Svaha: The Sixth Finger Na-han Tazza: One Eyed Jack Do Il-chul Start-Up Go Taek-il 2020 Time to Hunt Sang-soo Deliver Us from Evil Yui 2021 Moving On Narrator Barrier-free version Miracle: Letters to the President Jung Jun-kyung 2022 Decision to Leave San-oh Cameo Another Record: Lee Je-hoon Himself Documentary 2023 One Win Kang Jeong-won Smugglers Jang Do-ri Dr. Cheon and Lost Talisman Fairy shaman Cameo 2024 Uprising Jong-ryeo Harbin Woo Deok-soon 2025 Love Untangled Pedestrian Cameo The Ugly Im Dong-hwan / young Im Young-gyu Dual role 2026 Humint Park Geon TBA A Mark Against Thee Choi Yeop
Short film Year Title Cast Notes 2007 The End of the World Boy 2009 Lovers Ho-young 2010 Study Group 2011 The Cap of Fools Park Jeong-min 2021 Unframed – Class Representative Election Kim Dam-ho Kang Ji-seok Park Hyo-eun Park Seung-joon As director and scriptwriter It is a collaboration with Watcha and directed and written by Lee Je-hoon, Park Jeong-min, Choi Hee-seo and Son Suk-ku 2022 Life Is But A Dream The Swordsman
Television series Year Title Role Notes 2011 KBS Drama Special:Human Casino Cha Tae-oh One-act drama 2012 Feast of the Gods Jang Mi-so Golden Time Jang Young-woo 2013 Puberty Medley Shin Young-bok 2014 You're All Surrounded Ji Gook Righteous Love Jang Ki-tae 2015 Reply 1988 Sung Bo-ra's boyfriend Cameo (episode 8–9) 2016 Entourage Lee Ho-jin 2018 Mr. Sunshine Ahn Chang-ho Cameo (episode 22) 2021 Hellbound Bae Young-jae 2022 Shooting Stars Park Jo-eun Cameo (episode 1) 2024 The 8 Show Yoo Phillip Light Shop Kim Young-tak Cameo (episode 8) 2025 Newtopia Lee Jae-yoon 2027 A Man's Man Han Yu Hyeon
Music video appearances Year Song Title Artist 2012 "Butterfly" Sunjungsun 2018 "With the Heart to Forget You" IU "Byunsan Monologue" Park Jung-min (Feat. Kim Go-eun, Yankee) 2019 "I'm Always You" Lee Seung Hwan 2020 "Reconnect for the Gone" Code Kunst, Simon Dominic, Choi Jung-hoon 2022 "Because We Loved" Kang Min-kyung and Choi Jung-hoon "Jotto" Bibi 2023 "I Want That" (G)I-dle 2024 "Beginning and End" Park Won "Sky, Hands, Balloons" Cloud koh 2025 "Good Goodbye" Hwasa
Theater + Theater play performances Year Title Role Venue Date English Korean 2011 Kisaragi Miki-chan Snake Culturespace N.U June 9 – August 7 Ansan Culture and Arts Center Dalmaji Theater September 24–25 2012–2013 Culturespace N.U November 29 – February 24 2013 Garden Five Art Hall April 5–14 2014 The Escape of G-Code G코드의 탈출 Man Theater Lab Hyehwa-dong 1 February 18–23 2016–2017 Romeo and Juliet 로미오와 줄리엣 Romeo National Theater Daloreum Theater December 9–January 13 2017 Gunpo Culture and Arts Center Suri Hall (Grand Performance Hall) January 21–22 Woosong Arts Center Daejeon February 4–5 Suseong Artpia Paper Hall Daegu February 23–24 Andong Culture and Arts Center Woongbu Hall February 25–26 2025–2026 Life of Pi 라이프 오브 파이 Pi GS Arts Center December 2–March 2
Awards and nominations